The Kirtland Temple and The Second Pentecost - Chapmanresearch

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On the way from New York they stopped off to see Parley's old friend in Kirtland, Ohio. This oldfriend of Parley Pratt was Sidney Rigdon a Disciple of Christ minister. The missionaries induced Sidney toread the Book of Mormon. Sidney after reading the book was soon baptized and so were most of hiscongregation.Sidney Rigdon decided to leave immediately for New York to meet the prophet who had sochanged his life and profession. He arrived in New York in December 1830. Upon seeking the prophet outhe asked Joseph to inquire of the Lord His will concerning him. A rather surprising declaration came ofwhich Sidney was probably ignorant as to its meaning, The Lord said thus' "Behold, verily, verily, I sayunto my servant Sidney; I have looked upon thee and thy work. I have heard thy prayers, and prepared theefor a great work. Thou art blessed, for thou shalt do great things. Behold thou was sent forth' even as John,to prepare the way before me, and before Elijah which should come and thou knewest not (DC 35:4).A few days later Joseph received another revelation which stated "And that ye might escape thepower of the enemy, and be gathered unto me a righteous people, without spot and blameless wherefore,for this cause I gave unto you a commandment that ye should go to the Ohio; and there I will give unto youmy law and there you shall be endowed from on high." (DC 38: 31-32) Three days later on January 5, 1831he again received a revelation which said, "Thou art not called to go into the Eastern countries, but thou artcalled to go to the Ohio. And inasmuch as my people shall assemble themselves at the Ohio, I have kept instore a blessing such as is not known among the children of men, and it shall be poured upon their heads.And from thence men shall go forth into all nations." (DC 39:14-15).Joseph was obedient to the command of the Lord and left the latter part of January for Kirtland in theland of Ohio with Sidney Rigdon. He told all the other saints to follow in the spring when the ice broke up.He found over 400 members of the church in Kirtland waiting for him with a big welcome. They had beenpraying for him to come, for none of them had seen their prophet. This became a great gathering area. Onthe 6th of June 1831 the second conference of the church was held in Kirtland. Now the congregationnumbered 2,000 members.Many great revelations were given here in Kirtland as the Church grew. On December 27, 1832 theLord revealed "Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become singled to God, and the days willcome that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in hisown way, and according to his own will. Remember the great and last promise made unto you; cast awayyour idle thought and your excess laughter far from you. Tarry ye tarry ye in this place, and call a solemnassembly, even of those who are the first laborers in this last kingdom ... Organize yourself; prepare everyneedful thing; and establish a house' even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house oflearning, a house of Glory, a house of order, a house of God." (DC 88:68-70, 119)Two and a half weeks later the prophet wrote a letter to the brethren in Zion. With the letter he sentthis "Olive Leaf" revelation. In the letter by way of explanation Joseph wrote “You will see that the Lordcommanded us in Kirtland, to build a house of God, and establish a school for the Prophets, this is theword of the Lord to us, we will obey. As on conditions of our obedience He has promised us great things;yea even a visit from the heavens to honor us with His own presence. We greatly fear before the Lord lestwe should fail of the great honor which our Master proposes to confer on us; we are seeking for humilityand great faith lest we be ashamed in his presence." (DHC Vol. 1:316)On May 6, 1833 more word was received concerning the Lord's house: "And it shall be whollydedicated unto the Lord for the work of the presidency. And it shall not suffer any unclean thing to comeunto it; and my glory shall be there. (DC 94:7-8)Again on June 1, 1833 the Lord makes a promise concerning his house, "Yea verily I say unto you, Igave unto you a commandment that you should build a house, in which house I design to endow thosewhom I have chosen with power from on high. For this is the promise of the Father unto you; therefore Icommand you to tarry, even as mine apostles at Jerusalem." (DC 95:8-9)On July 23, 1833 the cornerstone of the temple was laid. Ten days after this the Lord revealed thefollowing. "And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not sufferany unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it: Yea my presence shallbe there, for I will come unto it, and all the pure in heart, that shall come unto it, shall see God." (DC97:15-16)2
Soon after this time ,in 1833, trouble started in Jackson County. On November 1,1833 the saintswere driven from Jackson County and the city of Zion. This had the effect of slowing down the work onthe Temple. Funds from Zion were cut to a trickle and missionaries were sent to the east to try and raisesome money for the temple. In early 1834 mobs were stirred up in the Kirtland area, and mobs tried todestroy the walls and men who labored on the temple in the day time had to watch and guard at night thewalls they had laid during the daytime. Heber C. Kimball writes of these days "The Church was in a stateof poverty and distress, in consequence of which it appeared almost impossible that the commandmentcould be fulfilled relative to the Kirtland temple; at the same time our enemies were raging and threateningdestruction upon us, and we had to guard ourselves night after night, and for weeks we were not permittedto take off our clothes, and were obliged to lay with our fire locks in our arms." (DHC Vol II p2)On April 21, 1834 a conference was held where the prophet and others spoke. Oliver Cowderyrecords in his minutes of the meeting that "Elder Rigdon gave an account of the endowment of the ancientapostles (on the day of Pentecost) and laid before the conference the promise to the Elders in the last dayswhich they were to realize after the House of the Lord was built." (DHC Vol. II p 54)Oliver Cowdery stressed the importance of a House of God as a place where Pentecostal miraclescould occur: “Within that house, God shall pour out his Spirit in great majesty and glory and encircle hispeople with fire more gloriously and marvelously than at Pentecost.” (Letter of Oliver Cowdery to John F.Boynton at Saca, Maine, written May 6, 1834)Heber C. Kimball records this in his journal about Sidney Rigdon and his concern for the temple. Hesaid "Elder Rigdon looking at the sufferings and poverty of the church, frequently went upon the walls ofthe building, both night and day, and wept, crying aloud to the Almighty to send means whereby we mightaccomplish the building." (Life of HCK P. 68) The Prophet acted as foreman and went to the quarry toassist in drawing stone.Joseph received a revelation that he was to take a group of men up to Zion to redeem Zion. This wasknown as Zion’s Camp March. From this group of men the Prophet was told that the twelve apostleswould be ordained from this group. Zion Camp March left May 1, 1834.The Prophet arrived back in Kirtland on August 1, 1834. When they returned they headed back tothe stone quarries to cut stone for the Temple.The Prophet Joseph Smith beheld the structural pattern of the Kirtland Temple in a heavenly visionprior to its construction. One witness to the event relates: "About this time Frederick G. Williams, one ofPresident Smith's counselors, came into the Temple, when the following dialogue took place in mypresence.Carpenter Rolph said, 'Doctor, what do you think of the House?' He answered, 'It looks to me like the patternprecisely.' He then related the following: "Joseph received the word of the Lord for him to take his two counselors,Williams and Rigdon, and come before the Lord, and He would show them the plan or model of the House to bebuilt. We went upon our knees, called on the Lord, and the Building appeared within viewing distance: I being thefirst to discover it. Then all of us viewed it together. After we had taken a good look at the exterior, the buildingseemed to come right over us, and the make up of this Hall seemed to coincide with what I there saw to a minutia."Joseph was accordingly enabled to dictate to the mechanics, and his counselors stood as witnesses;and this was strictly necessary in order to satisfy the spirit of unbelief in consequence of the weakness orchildishness of the Brethren of those days. (Truman O. Angell, Autobiography, pp. 4-5)In a sermon given April 6th, 1853, Brigham Young said that the pattern of the Kirtland Temple wasgiven to the Prophet Joseph Smith: "Soon after, the Church, through our beloved Prophet Joseph, wascommanded to build a Temple to the Most High, in Kirtland, Ohio, and this was the next House of theLord we hear of on the earth, since the days of Solomon's Temple. Joseph not only received a revelationand commandment to build a Temple, but he received a pattern, also, as did Moses for the Tabernacle, andSolomon for his Temple; for without a pattern, he could not know what was wanting, having never seenone, and not having experienced its use." (JD 2:31)Apostle Orson Pratt echoed the same idea concerning Joseph Smith's having envisioned the physicalappearance of the Kirtland Temple: "God revealed the pattern according to which that house should bebuilt, pointing out the various courts and apartments, telling the size of the house, the order of the pulpits,and in fact everything pertaining to it was clearly pointed out by revelation. God gave a vision of thesethings, not only to Joseph, but to several others, and they were strictly commanded to build according tothe pattern revealed from the heavens." (JD 13:357)3
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